NO-ONE was in any doubt as to how motivated Australia would be when they flew into England for the 1970 World Cup but few people were prepared for the level of brutality witnessed in the Kangaroos' two matches against Great Britain.

Having relinquished the Ashes just a few months before, Australia arrived in determined mood and opened the tournament with a 47-11 defeat of New Zealand at Wigan only to be beaten 11-4 by the hosts at Leeds a few days later.

The two sides met in the final at the same venue on November 7 for what was and remains one of the dirtiest, most ill-tempered internationals of all time.

Two players, Great Britain centre Syd Hynes and Australia scrum-half Billy Smith were sent off during the match and a mass brawl erupted at the sounding of the final hooter when 25 players piled into each other in an incident which put the sport on the front page of the Daily Mail, which described proceedings as "pure, bloody mayhem paraded as sport."

"It was certainly a very physical game," recalls Fred Lindop, the referee who took charge of the final in only his third season as a senior official. "It was a really tough game to referee.

"The Aussies didn't react well when they were losing. They've calmed down over the years, but teams don't tend to lose their rag when they're winning by 30 or 40 points as they have been since then."

The full-blown brawl at the end of the final, which Australia won 12-7, was sparked by an ill-judged act by Great Britain winger John Atkinson who, looking back, admits his reaction was perhaps heavy handed.

"As we left the field I tapped Australia's full-back on the side of the head and said 'Well done, the best team won,'" said Atkinson. "In hindsight 'tapped' might not be the right word, it was more than a slap.

"I was aggrieved because he had kicked me in the first match. Anyway, it all kicked off after that and the World Cup finished like it had started.

"It was clear from that first match just how much losing the Ashes on home soil meant to them.

"Every time you went down on the floor you had to cover your head because there were boots flying everywhere."

The only person not involved in the fighting was Australia centre John Cootes, the only Roman Catholic priest ever to play international rugby league who stood back and watched impassively before collecting his winners' medal.

"I'd played against Fr Cootes in the first Ashes Test earlier that year when there was a 24-man brawl," said Atkinson. "He said to me 'John, you know this isn't our problem.'

"As a good Catholic lad from Leeds I couldn't just hit him, could I?"